Technical exercises - Their usefulness

Composers/Educators such as Czerny and Hanon wrote technical exercises that are still used in the piano studio today.
In your opinion and practise, rate their usefulness above.
0 is for "utter waste of time" through to 5 "indespensable"
It would be interesting to note your reasons why you voted for that number. If you'd like, comment below.

"I forget what I was taught, I only remember what I've learnt." - Patrick White, Australian novelist.

I always practice technical exercises just because I feel like my playing is a lot stronger when I do. Playing piano obviously involves a lot of movement patterns so muscle memory is really important.
When I don't practice scales and stuff, I go to work on my pieces and just think "holy smokes that didn't work at all... it's all shaky.." That little thought annoys me to death, so I would rather practice exercises than be annoyed by a finger rebellion.
I am [or will soon be] working on Macdowell's second piano concerto [just the first movement for now], and practicing arpeggios helps so much on that! It has all of these REALLY fast arpeggios in the opening theme. Really tricky to play.

I hate to beat the drum for my own stuff, but I've had an article on PEP for a long time that I think is relevant to the usefulness of technical excercises: It's called "Practice: Who Makes the Decisions?", and it can be found in The Teaching Studio. I'd be most happy to have any comments.

Yes, I have read your article. It was really interesting! I practice a lot, but honestly I do a lot of playing around within that. I do know how to get things done though. It is just by thinking about what your doing and being analytical in your practice. [like what you talked about] Speaking of getting things done, I finished memorizing my Chopin nocturne today! YAY!

O as kind of a PS, sometimes I read while I do my scales... maybe I shouldn't do that. But at least I get two things done at once :p It doesn't seem to hurt anything. But I HAVE to concentrate when I work on Hanon and arpeggios.

Everthing seems to be working just fine now. I'm getting used to playing that section, and I know what I'm doing with the chords. Have you ever noticed that knowing what you're doing just makes things easier?

Without technique no music.
A firm legato in a slow phrase demands a lot of technique.
Very strong fingers are a total requirement for playing more than half of the piano repertoire.

So yes, tons of Czerny, already after 6 months of study.
Personally i teach with Beyer for small children, thereafter only Czerny (it is very complete already) and thereafter Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Scriabin.

I'm using Hanon at the moment (in C - don't know if I'll get round to the other keys in this lifetime ). Also someone called Dohnanyi Erno - never heard of him before - my teacher has put me onto them. Has anyone else used him?

ya Donanyi is good too. The Hungarian method,. Very good. I dont use it only because life is too short, otherwise it is extremely good. And he is a real composer, too, wrote a good piano concerto for instance.

Technical excercises do make a big difference. It helps so much when you're trying to learn motion patterns, and even more when you try to play them various ways. It helps you to gain greater control, and helps your listening abilities. And somehow, making Hanon actually sound interesting takes a bit of creativity.

I'm kind of working on building a classical music collection. There's so much out there! And I'm sort of on my own because I'm the only musician in my family. Although my teacher always gives valuable advice on what to invest in. The only technical exercises I have access to at the moment are scales, arpeggios and Hanon. I'm afriad I'm going to have to shell out the money for some other technic books sometime soon. I think they would help. I'll have to remember to ask my teacher about that.

lallasvensson wrote:ya Donanyi is good too. The Hungarian method,. Very good. I dont use it only because life is too short, otherwise it is extremely good.

Funny you should say that because my teacher picked him out specifically because life is too short and she considers him straight to the point. Perhaps it is my teacher's choice of particular exercise book by him? I'll ask at my next lesson (if I remember!).

Quidam, before you go and spend a fortune on exercise books ask your teacher which ones they think you should have otherwise you could very well end up spending a fortune on material you probably won't ever get the time to work on.

heehee. I have. But I've done it over ten years. I'll still contine to do so. LOVE having an extensive music library. (We also have a room JUST as a library in our house. Both my husband and myself have a thing for books. When we go on holidays it's books that we spend most of our money on! - he loves science, maths, chess etc I love psycology, history, drama, literature - between us we have quite a collection. I have many in the library that I haven't read yet, but are definitely on my 'to do' list.)

Wait for sales. Sometimes you can get a bargain. Go to garage sales. Sometimes people are almost giving away the most precious of resources (if they only knew). Try Ebay, second hand stores.

A teacher should have an extensive library. But a little at a time. When you start teaching Quidam, it is always good to put a little of that money towards new resources whenever you can. Imagine what you can accumulate in 20 years!
If you have a large library to draw from, it gives you better opportunity to 'custom' build lesson plans for each student.

"I forget what I was taught, I only remember what I've learnt." - Patrick White, Australian novelist.